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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Are Easter Eggs Healthy For the Heart? Easter eggs are special eggs that are available for celebration during the Easter. Dyed or painted chicken eggs have initially been used as Easter eggs but in modern days, chocolate eggs or plastic eggs filled with confectionery like jellybeans have gradually substituted the traditional Easter eggs. Published on March 31, 2010 online in the European Heart Journal, researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition reported that Easter eggs (chocolate eggs) and other chocolate products might be good for the heart as well as for people with high blood pressure, provided that only a tiny amount, preferably dark instead of milk or white chocolate, is consumed each day. The German researchers made use of data from participants of a larger study called European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC). They followed 19,357 adults who were of age between 35 and 65 for at least a decade and compared episodes of ill health with their lifestyle. During the period, the blood pressure, height and weight measurements as well as details of diet, lifestyle and health were recorded. Results of their analysis showed that participants who ate the most amount of chocolate (7.5 grams on average per day or about one square of a 100-gram or 3.5-ounce bar) had lower blood pressure and their risk of having heart attack or stroke was reduced by 39 percent, comparing with those consumed the least (1.7 grams). Meanwhile, the study also indicated that if people who were in the group that ate the least amount of chocolate increased their consumption of chocolate by 6 grams a day, 85 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 10,000 people could be achieved over a period of about 10 years.
Previous research has more or less suggested that chocolate can help prevent heart disease because of complex molecules known as flavanols. Flavanols appear to improve the bioavailability of the gas nitric oxide from the cells that line the inner wall of blood vessels. Nitric oxide, once released, can cause the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels to relax and widen. This could lower blood pressure, which is good for people with high blood pressure. Flavanols can be found in cocoa. This would probably explain why dark chocolate that contains more cocoa was found to be much more effective than milk chocolate or white chocolate. While other health experts do agree that basic science had already demonstrated quite convincingly that dark chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 70 percent could reduce certain type of stress and improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, the German researchers still insisted that further work is necessary to explain why chocolate could help the heart. As chocolate is one that many people find it very difficult to refuse, the researchers cautioned people, especially chocolate lovers, not to base on the results of the findings and start gorging on chocolate. Imagine this, each 100 grams slab of dark chocolate contains about 500 calories. To avoid weight gain, one would have to subtract this amount from the daily food intake or do adequate amount of exercise to get rid of the extra calories whenever he or she consumes a slab of chocolate. One should also not forget that there is no single food or item that could prevent a people from getting heart disease or other diseases. Remember this, a combination of sufficient exercise and healthy diet still plays an important role.
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